SWTOR’s glaring weakness: Space combat

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Ever since I had the pleasure of playing the original Star Wars: X-Wing back in 1993, I have found myself longing to once again take the controls of the now legendary space vehicle to blast imps out of the nether regions of the galaxy. When Star Wars: Galaxies was announced I was hopeful that some sort of space combat experience rivaling the award-winning video game would be part of the package.

When the expansion Jump to Lightspeed was finally announced, I had high hopes that were ultimately bantha fodder because of the lackluster effort Sony had put into the package. It just wasn’t the same white-knuckle experience that I remembered when hoping my forward shields would hold against the oncoming barrage of TIE-Fighters. As a result, when BioWare announced they were putting a space combat mini-game into Star Wars: The Old Republic, I was understandably skeptical. Turns out, I was right to be since it’s the weakest point of an otherwise stellar game.

The space missions in the MMORPG put you into the cockpit of your very own ship when you hit level 15. This not only allows you to travel to other systems, but also gives you access to a variety of space missions that will let you earn amounts of experience relative to their difficulty. Playing the missions feels like you are in front of a souped-up arcade shooter from the 90’s — the only movements you can initiate are a barrel roll to evade laser fire and directing your ship around the screen. The missions are timed runs through a pre-set course, meaning that when you point your ship in a direction, it’s only to aim your lasers or missiles, it has no impact on changing your course. In essence, it’s a lot like the classic NES game Duck Hunt on steriods, just with a Star Wars skin laid over it.

I have to concede the point that BioWare didn’t promise players a deep experience when it came to this part of the game, and as a distraction from running missions or for a change of scenery it’s not half bad. The plea that I am making to the game’s creators is this: please consider making the first expansion to SWTOR an X-Wing-type space combat simulator. The depth of gameplay that could come out of such an addition could be incredible, and could tie in with the rest of the game. There could be whole new crafting trees for pimping out your ship, bringing a real player economy into the title. There could even be squadron flashPoints for player groups, just the idea makes me start to drool.

Please BioWare, ease my pain by giving me a good old-fashioned space shoot-em-up where I can once again feel the excitement of dropping into a trench to see if I can make it before I get vaporized out of the sky. An expansion like that could only help the game’s subscriber base.